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M V Highsmith.

SRH

Stan;
Are you saying that M V Highsmith was the man Nash talked about? I could only remember the last name, so was not sure it was the same man or not.
MMF

High:

"Within the George Bird Evans book "The Best of Nash Buckingham" (1st ed; 1973) there appears the annotated article T. Nash wrote for Gun Digest (circa 1960). On page 160 - Nash referred to Mr. Highsmith within the article's first paragraph as - "H. L. Highsmith".

While inside the confines of his early shop at Dowdle Sportingoods (circa 1980-82) on Union Extended in Memphis, I was photographing Mr. Highsmith - with Willena's expressed approval & authorization - before he was to work on my early 20ga Browning O/U.

As I quietly photographed him, he asked: "What's this for?" And I explained: "For an article about gunsmithing..." - and because Mr. Highsmith did things the old-school way with hand tools. For example, he placed recoil pads to pull-length with a fine-toothed hand saw, and extended forcing cones without the help of a lathe. And the only power-hand tool that I recall ever seeing in his shop was a very old 1/4" electric drill, which he used to smooth reamed tool marks from the chamber into the barrel.

His racked workload appeared endless, and his delivery times specifically established when your receipt tag was filled out, usually by Miss Willena. "High" would briefly take your verbal instruction, and then say, "She'll call you" - as he turned to walk away.

I first saw "High" & Miss Wllena shoot (doves) way back in the 1960s on a farm near Como, Miss. - and as I recall, he shot a black power double and she sported a more conventional small gauge side-by-side. And they were limited out before the refreshment wagon made its second round.

Much later and by invitation, I shot clay birds with him at the old Memphis Gun Club on Appling Road. He again shot a black-powder double (maybe a Purdey?), while I sported a much newer 20 ga. Ithaca (SKB) 280E, that he had fitted to me for upland birds. There was no real competition that day - he never missed.

So back to the T. Nash Buckingham reference to him within the Gun Digest article - "Are We Shooting 8-Gauge Guns?"

As I photographed "High" one day while he was at work, I ask him Why? that specific reference to him as a gunsmith of note and personal "friend" of T. Nash Buckingham's, had not been corrected early on. After all, T. Nash had never misidentified Berry Brooks or Wallace Claypool, or a host of other locals.

In his typical understated and unconcerned demeanor, never looking up at me, and with a chew in place, he quietly explained: "I don't no why the Old Man did that." And that's all he ever said to me about about it.

Within this thread he and his wife are correctly identified."

http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=473212&page=4

Cheers,

Raimey
rse

By the way, & it could be confirmed by Mrs. Highsmith who now has 90 years, Mr. Buck wanted to pal around w/ High much more than High wanted to pal around w/ Mr. Buck; i.e., Mr. Buck would well tolerate High than High Mr. Buck. Just for the record....

Cheers,

Raimey
rse

Hard to pal around together when neither drove an automobile...

Thank You Raimey;
I have a copy of George Bird Evans book but did not remember which story he had mentioned Mr. Highsmith in. Of course, had I looked through & found it I would then have "Assumed" it was a different Highsmith as Nash listed him as M L Highsmith. The reference I remember was he told of MV bringing a 10 gauge black powder double to the range one day & shooting Skeet, as I recall, with it.
MMF

I have a 15 bore muzzleloader that Mr. Highsmith reconfigured for me. I'm a lefty and he had bent a couple of gun for me previously. I asked him after that to keep on the lookout for a small bore ML shotgun that I could shoot. Six months later a package arrived from him. The gun has Osborne barrels and the locks are marked "MH Blood, Memphis". The stock is cast on to my dimensions. The breech plugs were removed and re casehardened, as were the lock plates and hammers. All remaining metal is rust blued. The wood has High's signature alkanet red stain. I have shot a lot of doves with that gun using an ounce of shot and a light charge of black.

Sorry, Miller. I got busy and didn't get back by this thread. But, yes, as raimey explained.

Sorry to leave you "hanging".

Best, SRH